![]() The service plan also enables what Caavo calls "simple universal search", which is a shorthand way of saying that when you enter a search term – using either voice or text input – the Caavo will search for results across your specific devices and subscribed services. ![]() (A cool feature for parents interested in maintaining oversight or creating mischief while away from home.) ![]() In addition to providing content recommendations, the mobile app can function as a remote control for your AV system from anywhere you have internet access. For starters, the plan expands the Caavo's control interfaces beyond the handheld Smart Remote to include voice control – using Caavo's proprietary voice recognition via the Smart Remote's built-in microphone as well as integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant – and a mobile app (the Caavo TV & Movie Guides). Since I've emphasized the importance of the service plan, I suppose it's a good idea to take a brief look at some of its most valuable features. Thus, the bundle – not just the hardware – will be the focus of this review. As far as I'm concerned, the features that come with the service plan are so integral to the overall value of the Caavo that the hardware/lifetime service plan bundle is the only way to buy the product. One consistent option has been to offer a bundle that includes the Caavo hardware (the handheld Smart Remote and the Control Center), one of the company's high-speed Spotlight HDMI cables, and a lifetime service plan for $159.99. ![]() Along the way, it's been difficult (for me, anyway) to keep track of the company's approach to pricing the various service plans. So, in late 2018, the company introduced the four-input Caavo Control Center Smart Remote and Smart Home Theater Hub – the current model reviewed here – for $99. It generally got excellent reviews, but the high price tag and lack of support for 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos were two significant strikes against it. I've kept my eyes on the Caavo folks since they started shipping the original Caavo (a $399 universal remote system with an eight-input home theater hub the company no longer sells and now refers to as the "Caavo Classic") in early 2018. I'm sure no one reading this right now is thinking, "Great! I was hoping to find another monthly subscription fee I could drive myself deeper into debt with." (If so, I have a subscription plan for a bridge I'd love to offer you.) Thankfully, Caavo offers an option to buy the hardware bundled with a lifetime service plan that eliminates any additional fees, so the situation isn't as troublesome as it might appear. At its core are two hardware pieces: a handheld remote (the Smart Remote) and an HDMI switcher/control hub (the Control Center) that connects and controls up to four AV sources to a TV plus, if desired, a soundbar or AVR.Īdding to the hybrid nature of the product is the fact that owners need to sign up for a Caavo service plan in order to get all of the features and capabilities that make the system so attractive. It's actually a category-blending hybrid device that's more aptly described as an operating system for your home theater that conveniently slips in a bit of smart home integration. You didn't even have electric lights.) In this particular instance, I get to wax lyrical about the Caavo Control Center Smart Remote and Smart Home Theater Hub, one of the most exciting and easiest-to-use universal remote control systems I've ever had the pleasure to have in my system.Īs the device's unwieldy name suggests, the Caavo Control Center Smart Remote and Smart Home Theater Hub is more than the standard, garden-variety universal remote control. Although I'm certainly no poet (and my words surely show it), I do get to write about home automation and home theater. She'd probably stick with sonnets about relationships rather than singing the praises of watching a movie on an 86-inch LG NanoCell 90 Series Smart TV instead of reading the book the flick was based on. I control thee by handheld remote, by an app, and by voice Oh, home theater, how do I control thee? Let me count the ways. Were the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) alive today and not so hung up on pointing out injustice and prattling on about her feelings, there's no doubt in my mind that she'd have written sonnets about home theater gear and smart home gadgets.
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